Be aware this contains Vitex. I have never written a review before but feel obligated to do so. As soon as I started taking this, my perfectly regular 28 day cycle turned into an irregular nightmare and delayed ovulation extensively leading to lots of fertity issues.

I have done SO much research on prenatal vitamins, and this is the one I keep coming back to! If you are going to take a prenatal vitamin, this would be the one I would take. The nutrients are bioavailable(readily absorbed by the body) because it is whole foods based. It's great to see that it does not contain dangerous ingredients, and contains lots of healthy ORGANIC fruit and veggie juices, sprouted grains, etc.<br /><br />The dose being split into 3 pills a day means that the nutrients are better absorbed because you are not taking them all at once(although if I forget to take them during the day I will take them all at night and have not had any probs, but I prefer spacing them out). However, there are MUCH better sources of probiotics than the small amount of the 1 strain in this pill, and I would not count on a pill's added probiotics being alive when you take it. I prefer to get probiotics from probiotic foods: I make my own kefir with kefir grains, which is probably the best source of probiotics period. I also make homemade saurkrat, the old-fashioned way, which is fermenting it (check out the book Wild Fermentation). Kombucha is also good, if you have no mercury dental fillings. Please keep in mind that a pill is no substitute for a sound, healthy diet, especially while growing a baby!<br /><br />These vitamins did not give me morning sickness(or worsen what I was already feeling) like other brands I have taken.<br />This supplement is low in calcium, magnesium and vitamin k, and does not contain phosphorus, which you can get from a healthy diet, especially if you are concentrating on eating foods containing those things.<br /><br />I drink raw milk for the phosphorus and calcium(Pasturized milk contains no phosphorus and its other nutrients are depleted because of the heat treatment, and they are not as easily absorbed. It also loses its beneficial enzymes), and raw sprouted nuts and seeds for calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus(dont eat raw nuts/seeds that are not sprouted due to the high amounts of phytates that block minerals from being absorbed), as well as broth (home made with bones) for the minerals. Feel free to salt your food to taste, as long as you use UNREFINED salt! Such as Redmonds, celtic salt, himilayan salt, etc, dont use refined white table salt! It is especially important to consume lots of minerals if this is not your first child because pregnancy and breastfeeding deplete the mothers body of vitmains and especially minerals (and DHA!) that it stores, so its best to be doing these things before conception.<br /><br />This supplement will not provide you with protein, and you need A LOT of protein while pregnant! Animal sources are by far the best, and are best utilized by the body. Adequate protein consumption has been proven to prevent pre-eclamsia, check out Dr. Brewers findings on this. My midwife has me drink organic alfalfa tea for vit k. There is also K in fermented veggies and aged cheese such as parmesan.<br /><br />I realize I stress protein a lot because it is so important, carbs are also important but not in huge amounts. I think a diet that includes lots of different foods is key. If you eat grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, etc, just make sure they are whole (as in whole grains I mean) and are soaked or sprouted. Dont consume a lot of sugar, even if its in the form of fruit. Eating 10 apples a day is not a balanced diet ;D<br /><br />I also take a DHA supplement for pre-conception, pregnancy and lactation. I take fermented cod liver oil, and its best if paired with high-vitamin butter oil. I take salmon oil on days I dont eat seafood as well. (salmon oil would be a good alternative to fermented cod livero oil if you dont like that idea. So is krill oil)<br />Trying-to-get-pregnant, and pregnant women: I recommend the book Real Food for Mother and Baby by Nina Planck, the video The Business of Being Born (I bought it on Amazon, its on Netflix too I know), as well as the book Ina May's Guide to Childbirth! CONGRATS!<br />PS- edited in Dec, 2012, I am pregnant again with my 3rd baby and have changed a few things in this review to reflect new research I have been doing on pregnancy nutrition. I am currently taking pastured organic raw liver cut in to "pills" as a prenatal supplement, and only using 1 of these vitamins per day. I also try to eat some Brewers yeast daily, the only brand I will take is made by Lewis Labs.

I use this along with a Nordic Naturals Prenatal DHA supplement and it has all the vitamins you need including folate which is key when TTC. The pills are normal sized capsules you can either take as normal or you can open them up and put it in the smoothie or something. I just take it normally as the previous multivitamin I used to take was a much larger pill. These have no type of odor or taste to them which is great. I've read reviews of other brands where people say that their prenatal vitamin makes them feel nauseous, this brand does not do that whatsoever. The natural and GMO ingredients are a plus too!<br /><br />I included a couple photos to give you an idea of the size of the pill. The Garden of Life RAW Prenatal is the second pill from the right in both photos. In order from left to right these pills are: 1. ON Fish Oil Softgel, 2. ProSource Women's Multivitamin, 3. Garden of Life Vitamin Code Prenatal, 4. Nordic Naturals Prenatal DHA.

I just started taking these and they seem fine. I haven't had any side effects from them. I chose this over others because of the raw ingredients and it has a high % for most of the vitamins in it. The only negative is having to take 3 pills per day.<br />The size was a big concern for me because I have trouble swallowing big pills. I wished there was a picture posted of the actual pill but didn't find it so I will post one. They looked bigger than I would have liked so originally I opened the capsules and tried adding it to smoothies, mixing it with juices, etc (like it says you can) but it tasted gross so I tried swallowing the pills as is and I was actually able to swallow it. The plastic coating definitely helps.<br />In the picture from left to right - Advil, Centrum, Vitamin Code Prenatal

I love these whole food derived prenatal vitamins.. because i try to steer as far away as possible from synthetic ones. This one is the extreme oppossite.. I just wished they had more to add to the percentage of B vitamins so i won't have to buy extra,.. but thats just me.. I have not only taken these as a prenatal but also as a multivitamin.. Have you read the &#34;Makers Diet&#34; by Jordan Rubin well they created this Garden of Life vitamin line.. and In my opinion it is very trustworthy..and their book is also a good read if your interested in a good whole food based diet book.. Anyway<br />According to their Garden of Life website:<br />Their extensive non GMO verification process and, hence, the non GMO Project Verified label:assures that a product has been produced according to consensus based best practices for GMO avoidance through:<br />verification maintenance by an annual audit and onsite inspections for high-risk products.<br />rigorous traceability and segregation practices (after testing) to ensure ingredient integrity through to the finished product.<br />ensuring that any ingredient that is also grown commercially in GMO form is tested prior to use in a non GMO verified product to ensure Non-GMO status.<br />an Action Threshold of 0.9%. This aligns with laws in the European Union, where products containing more than 0.9% GMO must be labeled.<br />a thorough review of ingredient specification sheets to determine absence of GMO risk<br /><br />Also with vitamins are uncooked, untreated and unadulterated, with no binders or fillers<br /> Vitamin Code Prenatal is also a wonderful multivitamin for newly lactating mothers—with the immune support extending to that of the newborn, breast-fed baby. Just like me, you can give your child a “head start,” supporting the child’s immune system, even before birth.<br /><br />Sometime during your pregnancy, blood volume can increase up to 50%, increasing iron requirements and causing the heart to work harder to support the developing child’s needs. Vitamin Code RAW Prenatal Formula supports heart health and blood health with raw food-created iron, vitamins C, E, and B-Complex, plus folate.<br /><br />Vitamin Code RAW Prenatal also contains 800mcg of raw food-created folate. This is more than what the The Centers for Disease Control recommends. Folate is a B vitamin found mostly in green, leafy vegetables such as spinach or kale and this is where They get it from instead of synthetic folic acid.<br />I have taken these along with my b-vitamins recently..The reason why I also take the Vitamin code b- complex is because im always lethargic.. im prone to being anemic,.. my hands, and body always cold, im always a couch potato my husband tells me to get off my feet. Anyway long story short.. these along with the b complex have given me soo much energy.. and the vitamins I've been missing out on!<br /><br />If you liked my review please feel free to vote that it was helpful thankyou so much!!

I am SO disappointed to learn that Garden of Life would add such a dangerous ingredient to such an important supplement. Do your research on Vitex before buying this product. It's a hormone disruptor, which will decrease estrogen and increase progesterone. I bought this supplement based on the great reviews - they were all written prior to the addition of this ingredient. The ingredient list in the photo doesn't even include Vitex, but I can assure you the bottle I just received sure does. Beware!!